I am from South-Africa. When lymph-edema was first diagnosed in my right dominant arm,I felt very sorry for myself. As being an Occupational Therapist myself having learnt about lymphedema, but actually knowing nothing and struggling to find a lymphedema therapist I was down in the dumps.However having said that and still going through some "sorry for myself spells" it is going better psychologically.
However in the last 2 weeks I decided enough is enough life goes on and I am not going to sit arouns and let it pass me. I want to continue with the things I love. Besides my 4 children and very loving husband we have a horse we absolutely adore. I started going to him more regularly again. However when I get to him he nibbles only with his lips my right arm, he rubs his head against my right arm. In the beginning I pushed him away nervous for my "fat" arm. However he refused and kept going at that arm. I then also started stroking him more with my right arm, because it eased the pain.
Yesterday I saw a friend and she replied that my arm looks so much better. I started realising about a week ago that the pain is much better, and I though the swelling was going down, but I thought it is just my imagination. I went to get photo's of my arm previously and I was surprised to see the amount that my arm's swelling went down. I then measured my arm again and it the wrist went down almost 2cm.
Did anybody do any research on the effect of gentle touch involving an animal on lymph-edema patients? Has anybody also experienced something similar? Is it just a co-incidence or can it really happen?
Kind regards
Louise Stadler
